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Will Amy Coney Barrett, Whose Father Was a Shell Attorney for Decades, Recuse from Climate Suit?

January 15, 2021 Filed Under: Baltimore Lawsuit, Liability Litigation

Amy Coney Barrett's father was a longtime attorney for Shell
By Karen Savage

With oral arguments set for next week before the U.S. Supreme Court in a climate liability lawsuit against the country’s largest oil companies, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whose father was a Shell attorney for nearly three decades, has still not said whether she will recuse herself.

“My father worked at Shell Oil Company for many years, and while on the Seventh Circuit, in an abundance of caution, I have recused myself from cases involving those Shell entities with which he was involved,” Barrett wrote in her response to questions submitted by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse as part of her nomination process.

As it stands now, Justice Samuel Alito, who owns stock in ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66, will recuse himself, leaving the court with a potential for a 4-4 split vote.  A recusal by Coney Barrett would eliminate that possibility. 

While the court’s decision involves a limited legal issue in Baltimore’s case against fossil fuel companies, it could decide the crucial point of whether all of the climate liability suits filed against the industry will be heard in state or federal court.

Coney Barrett’s potential conflict of interest stems from her father, Michael E. Coney, who in addition to working for Shell also held leadership positions with the American Petroleum Institute (API) for two decades. He served on its subcommittee of exploration and production law and twice served as its chairman. He was also chairman of the legal subcommittee of the API’s offshore operations committee and frequently reviewed and drafted comments on policies related to the Outer Continental Shelf (OCF).   

The API is the nation’s largest and most powerful fossil fuel trade association. Nearly all of the companies named in Baltimore’s suit—including Shell—are API members.

Baltimore filed suit in Maryland state court in 2018 against ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and nearly two dozen other fossil fuel companies, alleging that they knew for decades that their products drive climate change but deliberately failed to inform the public about those risks.  The city charged the companies with eight violations, including public nuisance, private nuisance, failure to warn and violations of Maryland’s consumer protection laws.

The Supreme Court’s ruling could determine the fate of Baltimore’s case, and the companies have asked it to apply its decision to many of the other climate change-related cases filed against them by municipalities across the country.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Baltimore Lawsuit, Liability Litigation

Justice Dept. to Argue on Side of Oil Companies in Supreme Court Hearing

January 11, 2021 Filed Under: Baltimore Lawsuit, Latest News, Liability Litigation

By Karen Savage

The acting solicitor general will be allowed time to argue in support of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and nearly two dozen other companies next week during oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has agreed to review a technical ruling by the Fourth Circuit in a climate liability lawsuit filed by Baltimore.

The high court granted the request Friday, after Acting Solicitor General Jeffery B. Wall requested he be allowed to use 10 minutes of the fossil fuel companies’ time, which the energy giants have agreed to cede. 

“The United States and its officers are frequent litigants, and it therefore has a significant interest in the proper application of statutory provisions governing federal appellate jurisdiction,” Wall wrote in a motion filed last month. 

Pat Parenteau, a professor of environmental law at the Vermont Law School, said the granting of Wall’s request by the Supreme Court  isn’t unusual—even considering Wall will likely be out of that post two days later when President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated and begins the process of installing his own administration.  

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Baltimore Lawsuit, Latest News, Liability Litigation

Oil Companies Ask Supreme Court to Decide Jurisdiction of More Climate Cases

January 5, 2021 Filed Under: Baltimore Lawsuit, California Climate Lawsuits, Latest News, Liability Litigation, Rhode Island Lawsuit

By Karen Savage

Several fossil fuel giants want the U.S. Supreme Court to make its upcoming review of climate cases applicable to a wider range of those cases, filing briefs urging the court to include cases filed by Rhode Island and several California communities.

The companies—Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Marathon and several other energy companies—last week petitioned the high court, asking it to reverse rulings by the First and Ninth Circuits that have sent those cases back to state court.

The high court has already granted review of a lower court’s decision to place the Baltimore case in state court and oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 19. The companies are asking the court to hold the new petitions pending that ruling and then dispose of them “in a manner consistent with its decision in that case.” In other words, the companies hope the court sends all of the similar cases filed around the country to federal court, where they believe they will be dismissed.

The newest petitions, which were spearheaded by Chevron attorney Ted Boutrous, a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, mirror a similar request made by Exxon and Suncor last month in a case filed by communities in Colorado. 

The companies’ Colorado, California and Rhode Island petitions all involve the same technical, legal question they presented in a case filed against many of the same companies by Baltimore.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Baltimore Lawsuit, California Climate Lawsuits, Latest News, Liability Litigation, Rhode Island Lawsuit

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Justice Dept. to Argue on Side of Oil Companies in Supreme Court Hearing

By Karen Savage The acting solicitor general will be allowed time to argue in support of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and nearly two dozen other companies next week during oral arguments before … [Read More...]

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